Francis James "Frank" Painter was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania on January 11, 1841 the son of Ann Vickers and Samuel Marshall Painter, owner of a lumber yard. Frank served as a lieutenant-commander in the Navy in 1863-1880 and traveled in Europe, probably taking advantage of such travels to acquire specimens for his mineral collection.

Painter was probably influenced as a youth by the other prominent mineral collectors in West Chester, including John Brinton (1806-1880s), Eli Chandler (1857-1919), William Jefferis (1820-1906) and Charles Pennypacker (1845-1911). However, by 1897 he had lost interest and decided it was time to sell his collection. In April 1897, the New York mineral dealer George L. English announced in The Mineral Collector that "During March we bought the entire collection of F. J. Painter of West Chester, Pa. It included excellent specimens of many old European finds, such as Saxony autunite, Ems pyromorphite, Tyrolese epidote, erythrite, campylite, cerussite, etc. etc."

Painter never married, and died in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on June 4, 1910.